CC, have you tried anything like the Anabolic Diet with yourself or any of the guys you are helping?
I’ve been eating low carb for the last two weeks, and I feel a lot better overall. I haven’t seen any drop off in performance and I wear my belt a notch or even two tighter than usual, due to much less bloat.
I think I’m a fan.
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Bench off the pins[/quote]
Think I’ll give this a shot since I’ve maxed out the dumbbells. Haven’t done any barbell pressing since a pec tear + surgery just over a year ago. I’m thinking that there will be less chance of tearing myself in half again using pins a few inches away, what’s your setup like with this? Will be interesting to see if I’m pushing more or less weight off pins rather than conventional.
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
TheDudeAbides wrote:
I’ve read all 40 pages of this mammoth thread.
I don’t need a program as I am successfully using 5/3/1 for almost a year now.
My problem is that I have a mild case of tendinitis or tennis elbow. It gets sore, but not painful. My chest assistance is weighted dips which I really enjoy. Is there a just as good or better alternative to dips?
I hate chest training 
Bench off the pins, DB Bench, Hammerstrength lying flat press… I don’t like dips much for shoulder and elbow health… Go ask BushidoBadBoy and/or urbanski about how to fix that elbow issue of yours, they might be able to help.
[/quote]
lol thanks
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Bah, the questions just never end lol
I’ll get around to the others eventually…
With all the 5/3/1 stuff/PL stuff being asked, maybe I should just make a t-cell thread with a few of my fav. 5/3/1 assistance templates… And finally some general (non-5/3/1) routines/templates for people to use.
[/quote]
Did this get done? I checked t-cell alpha forum, couldn’t find anything resembling it and was wonderin if maybe i’d missed it somehow; it’d be a real gem i’m sure!
Thanks
I have a friend who is studying in Ger and wants to start using supplements, he convinced me he wants to be more serious about it.
What are the main, or best supplement brands that circulate in Germany?
Once again, sorry of the offtopic-ness.
[quote]MEYMZ wrote:
I have a friend who is studying in Ger and wants to start using supplements, he convinced me he wants to be more serious about it.
What are the main, or best supplement brands that circulate in Germany?
Once again, sorry of the offtopic-ness.[/quote]
I get all my subs from outside of Europe… Pretty convinced that there are no truly good supp companies over here, and everything is either too expensive or worthless in terms of quality.
Don’t really want to make a whole new thread for this
How are you guys adding weight to rack chins (past a point). Right now the DBs I want to use are too wide to put in my lap and still get a good stretch at the bottom of the movement - gym won’t let me use backpack.
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
MEYMZ wrote:
I have a friend who is studying in Ger and wants to start using supplements, he convinced me he wants to be more serious about it.
What are the main, or best supplement brands that circulate in Germany?
Once again, sorry of the offtopic-ness.
I get all my subs from outside of Europe… Pretty convinced that there are no truly good supp companies over here, and everything is either too expensive or worthless in terms of quality.
[/quote]
I guess I’ll give Biotest two clients 
[quote]Tumbles wrote:
Don’t really want to make a whole new thread for this
How are you guys adding weight to rack chins (past a point). Right now the DBs I want to use are too wide to put in my lap and still get a good stretch at the bottom of the movement - gym won’t let me use backpack. [/quote]
Olympic EZ bar, or put plates in your lap or against your stomach and use a lifting belt or so to secure them… Many ways… You may find better ones over at IM.
[quote]forbes wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
forbes wrote:
Mind if I ask your opinion on something C_C?
What do you think of this 2 way split?:
Day 1:
Back width
Delts
Tri’s
Quads
Calves
Day 2:
Back Thickness
Chest
Bi’s
Hams
Calves
Ramping up to 2 top sets of 6-8 reps for one exercise per muscle group, and one finisher set. (So like, 3 total sets where I push the limits).
What frequency are you using and what does your exercise selection look like?
I’m using a 3x per week frequency, alternating between the two workouts.
Exercise selection is as follows:
Day 1:
Back width - Wide grip pullup
Delts - Barbell shoulder press
Tri’s - Overhead extension with EZ curl bar [/quote] Is that a french press, or a lying EZ extension where the bar comes down behind your head? [quote]
Quads - Front squat
Calves - Seated calve raise
Day 2:
Back Thickness - T-bar row
Chest - Incline barbell press
Bi’s - Barbell curl
Hams - SLDL
Calves - Calve jump (yes, I know its not optimal, but standing calve raises hurt the soles of my feet, and if I do enough sets of these, my calves are fried)
I don’t plan on using an exercise rotation. I’ll just switch exercises when I stall on one. The finisher exercise contributes to exercise variety.
BTW, I finished my first workout today. I think I’ll have to drop down to one work set with my top weight and one finishing set. It was brutal!
[/quote]
Yeah, 2-way splits can be quite hard to get through…
Note: I’d do chest before BT, to avoid having my upper back fatigued when pressing… (danger of shoulders slipping out from under you and thus messing up your setup).
Should work ok… Barbell curls can be a bitch in terms of tendonitis/forearm pain/wrist damage unless you’re built for them…
SLDL, t-bars and front squats all twice a week each can be a bit much depending on how strong you are etc…
I’d go with reverse-hypers or GH raises for the second ham session maybe…
Hey CC, I just finished 6 weeks of BBB (ramp1+SG1) and am about to start a new routine because I feel strength (mainly in the pressing movements) could be a little better. Below is what I’m planning, do you have anything you’d add to insure optimal mass gains?
All 5x5’s starting light on week 1 working up
Monday
Rack Chin or lat pull-down using 5 x 5, 4 x 6, or 10 x 3
EZ-Bar Curl
Deadlifts 5 x 5 Ramping to a top set
Calf work 2-4x10-20
Wedesday
Bench press 5 x 5 Ramping up to a top set
Reduced ROM bench movement for 1 x 3- 3 x 4
Shoulder rep work Any suggestions for what would be most appropriate here?
Tricep rep work Any suggestions? I would do CGBP but am thinking 4 presses might be bad
Friday
DB Row using a static weight 5 x 5
Squatting using a static weight or Ramping (likely will ramp) 5 x 5
Pinwheel Curls (added these as I feel I benefited from hitting bi’s (and back) more frequently in BBB
calf work 2x15
Sunday
Incline Bench press using a static weight for 5 x 5 considering making this DB as I really want to work on my upper chest
Shoulder rep work suggestions
Tricep rep work suggestions
Possibly additional chest rep lift
After 3-5 weeks a deload is done for all 5 x 5’s, either reducing reps or sets. Rep work can stay the same but may be reduced.
I’d appreciate any input you have for optimal mass gains
Thanks,
Pumped
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
forbes wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
forbes wrote:
Mind if I ask your opinion on something C_C?
What do you think of this 2 way split?:
Day 1:
Back width
Delts
Tri’s
Quads
Calves
Day 2:
Back Thickness
Chest
Bi’s
Hams
Calves
Ramping up to 2 top sets of 6-8 reps for one exercise per muscle group, and one finisher set. (So like, 3 total sets where I push the limits).
What frequency are you using and what does your exercise selection look like?
I’m using a 3x per week frequency, alternating between the two workouts.
Exercise selection is as follows:
Day 1:
Back width - Wide grip pullup
Delts - Barbell shoulder press
Tri’s - Overhead extension with EZ curl bar Is that a french press, or a lying EZ extension where the bar comes down behind your head?
Quads - Front squat
Calves - Seated calve raise
Day 2:
Back Thickness - T-bar row
Chest - Incline barbell press
Bi’s - Barbell curl
Hams - SLDL
Calves - Calve jump (yes, I know its not optimal, but standing calve raises hurt the soles of my feet, and if I do enough sets of these, my calves are fried)
I don’t plan on using an exercise rotation. I’ll just switch exercises when I stall on one. The finisher exercise contributes to exercise variety.
BTW, I finished my first workout today. I think I’ll have to drop down to one work set with my top weight and one finishing set. It was brutal!
Yeah, 2-way splits can be quite hard to get through…
Note: I’d do chest before BT, to avoid having my upper back fatigued when pressing… (danger of shoulders slipping out from under you and thus messing up your setup).
Should work ok… Barbell curls can be a bitch in terms of tendonitis/forearm pain/wrist damage unless you’re built for them…
SLDL, t-bars and front squats all twice a week each can be a bit much depending on how strong you are etc…
I’d go with reverse-hypers or GH raises for the second ham session maybe…
[/quote]
Well I’m not very strong (years of program hopping, oh how stupid!). So for the mean time doing those exercises twice a week is fine. In time though I’ll switch to a 3 way.
Barbell curls don’t seem to bother me, at least for now. I know for a fact that reverse curls do, so I avoid them.
I do like the autoregulation though (and I’m glad I use it!). I used to feel compelled to follow the sheet, instead of my body. If I feel up to it, and time allows, I can workout 4x a week. I can do both work sets and the finisher, or if I’m feeling burnt out, just do one.
Thanks for the pointers!
Hey CC
I would like to start SHIPs, but i’ve searched throughout this site and cannot find how to do them with correct form. I think I might have it though. All I have to do is…
Am I missing anything?
Thanks.
Hey CC, just a few simple questions. hope you can help me out here:
From all the videos of people I have seen squatting, including powerlifting videos, it seems that they are able to keep a smooth speed throughout, even from the hole position. If it helps in understanding my situation, I also dont feel any strain on the main muscle groups (quads, hams , glutes) when im squatting, unless im doing high reps over 20; basically, I only feel myself pushing the weight up really slowly. My current leg routine is as follows done once or twice a week, depending on which upper body i want to bring up:
Back Squat for a 5X5
Lunges for 2 sets (done mostly for stability, I go up to only 40lbs per side for 8 reps each leg)
Leg extensions
Leg curls
RDLs for 5 sets
Calves
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
MEYMZ wrote:
I have a friend who is studying in Ger and wants to start using supplements, he convinced me he wants to be more serious about it.
What are the main, or best supplement brands that circulate in Germany?
Once again, sorry of the offtopic-ness.
I get all my subs from outside of Europe… Pretty convinced that there are no truly good supp companies over here, and everything is either too expensive or worthless in terms of quality.
[/quote]
Nutrisport is British I beleive, and has some good Whey/casein.
Hey C_C, at what weight did you start to feel that you had good developement? People tell me I look big now but I don’t feel very big, in fact I think I felt bigger at 205. I’m only 240 right now, but I feel like I might have to go to about 270 before I fill out properly. This is most likely phsycological I suppose as I have moved to a new better equipped gym where there are more experienced lifters.
btw, how do you feel about lying dumbell extensions with a neutral grip (can’t see doing them any other way)? I guess you could call them db JM presses (a JM press is basically a tricep extension lowered to the neck correct?). I’ve recently put them in as my main tri assistance exercise as I feel they overload the stretch position really well, though you can’t use very much weight with them.
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
Hey C_C, at what weight did you start to feel that you had good developement? People tell me I look big now but I don’t feel very big, in fact I think I felt bigger at 205. I’m only 240 right now, but I feel like I might have to go to about 270 before I fill out properly. This is most likely phsycological I suppose as I have moved to a new better equipped gym where there are more experienced lifters.
btw, how do you feel about lying dumbell extensions with a neutral grip (can’t see doing them any other way)? I guess you could call them db JM presses (a JM press is basically a tricep extension lowered to the neck correct?). I’ve recently put them in as my main tri assistance exercise as I feel they overload the stretch position really well, though you can’t use very much weight with them.[/quote]
How tall are you?
Also, is there a specific problem area? I.e., do your shoulders and traps not look impressive in regular (non-tight t-shirts etc) clothing?
If you give every muscle group roughly equal attention (or if you try to specialize in some but don’t switch to maintenance training for the rest of your body), your body is going to be largely the same shape/proportions at 220 as it will be at 270. You’ll just be bigger all over, but if your arms were lagging before, they’ll still be lagging. Or delts. Or whatever.
That recent article actually described this fairly well (though I didn’t like the set/rep etc recommendations at all).
It certainly pays off to specialize/Prioritize. Especially as a natty who won’t get as big as someone with the same genetics etc using gear… You can try to train everything equally and get from 220 to 240, but the results will likely not impress you all that much. Yet, if you were to, say, during that time focus on delts and traps, then far more of those 20 lbs are going to go into your shoulder girdle area (provided you also gain more strength than usual there) and now it may look like those 20 lbs you gained were “more” than the previous 40 which you gained all over equally (plus/minus genetic strengths/weaknesses).
Had you trained everything equally, you might have gained those 20 pounds faster, but you’ll still look largely the same as before… Just a tad bigger overall… And it’s not like you can just keep gaining weight forever, and the speed at which you gain it (through strength gains and diet) certainly declines, too.
Body won’t be able to handle things the same way as before anymore, yet due to larger weights used you put more stress on it… Result: Weight and strength gains slow down.
Specialize, and you can gain faster in that particular area and may, over long-term, actually make better progress because you don’t overtax your body anymore and thus avoid general plateaus.
Thibs has talked some about that as well somewhere…
Ok. As for the lying DB extensions, I can’t do those for some reason. Elbows don’t like it, despite the lack of tendonitis.
I can do them like PJR’s though, but generally prefer an EZ bar in that case.
Wear elbow sleeves… Some guys swear by DB extensions… Just stop the moment they start causing trouble. Oh, and of course you’ll have to actually be able to progress well enough on them.
[quote]OatsNMilk wrote:
Hey CC, just a few simple questions. hope you can help me out here:
From all the videos of people I have seen squatting, including powerlifting videos, it seems that they are able to keep a smooth speed throughout, even from the hole position. If it helps in understanding my situation, I also dont feel any strain on the main muscle groups (quads, hams , glutes) when im squatting, unless im doing high reps over 20; basically, I only feel myself pushing the weight up really slowly. My current leg routine is as follows done once or twice a week, depending on which upper body i want to bring up: [/quote] Sounds like the intensity (no, not percentage of 1RM, I mean the “bodybuilding” intensity is missing, as well as possible technique issues or imbalances… Video would help.
[quote]
Back Squat for a 5X5
Lunges for 2 sets (done mostly for stability, I go up to only 40lbs per side for 8 reps each leg)
Leg extensions
Leg curls
RDLs for 5 sets [/quote] (going heavy relative to your 1RM on SLDL’s and such imo can easily turn them into ass+low-back exercises… Not good for your hams)
Oh, and 5x5 once or so per week just sucks imo. Esp. when using the same weight on all sets.
Hmmm. Many things we could try here… Post your complete routine, preferably a week from your logbook with weights and reps done… And what weights/reps you did a month or so ago for comparison.
Need a bit more info.
[quote]
Calves
Ditch the BB curls imo.
Great exercise… If you can do them without fucking up your wrists, forearms, elbows and even shoulders.
Many people just aren’t built for them, arm-structure-and-angle-wise.
EZ Bar (some work better than others… Variety of grip spacing’s and grip angles depending on the bar), Alt Curls, Alt. Offset Curls, One-Arm DB preachers (don’t bounce out of the bottom! Danger of severe injuries…) Hammerstrength Curl machines, Drag curls (curl up normally, drag on negative), Pinwheels…
[quote]Amonero wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
MEYMZ wrote:
I have a friend who is studying in Ger and wants to start using supplements, he convinced me he wants to be more serious about it.
What are the main, or best supplement brands that circulate in Germany?
Once again, sorry of the offtopic-ness.
I get all my subs from outside of Europe… Pretty convinced that there are no truly good supp companies over here, and everything is either too expensive or worthless in terms of quality.
Nutrisport is British I beleive, and has some good Whey/casein.
[/quote]
If you get bulk whey/casein, buy some fiber as well. That helps me a great deal with digestion and gas while using lots of powder each day…
I don’t know many British companies btw, was talking Germany exclusively. There is a GB-based distributor site for bulk powders and such, but I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about that here… Already had my pm’s revoked once.
I’ve never tried them, though, I still get my protein from the states.
Best thing to do is ask some non-sponsored vets who use lots of powder and who post in local forums where they get their protein when buying over the internet…
[quote]yvanehtnioj wrote:
Hey CC
I would like to start SHIPs, but i’ve searched throughout this site and cannot find how to do them with correct form. I think I might have it though. All I have to do is…
Am I missing anything?
Thanks.[/quote]
Well, there are no “official” rules of course. If one notch below 90 doesn’t feel right, try two… Depends on the bench model, anyway.
There are basically 2 ways of execution: Ruehl-style directly to the nose etc (short ROM, usually locked out because, well, ROM is so short lol), and regular (like McGrath and co do) with a less wide grip, no need for lockout if you don’t want to, comes down to the chin or so, elbows flared out a little less perhaps…
Ruehl style with the super-wide grip and the angle the arms are at can be a bit hard on the shoulders.
As with all exercises, just tinker with setup and technique until it feels right (or until you get fed up with it and move on to another exercise).
(the pulling the bar apart can work indeed, though not everyone does it. While doing that on the bench press would take the pecs mostly out, the shoulders still work hard, and the side/rear delts perhaps even harder when doing this on the OHP… Play around with that technique)